Their technology was far behind and corruption was rampant domestically but there is no denying the influence they had in geopolitics. Shit many of Russia's current allies or sympathizers are left over from the cold war. I live in Vietnam which in general perceives the US as a partner and the US is very much liked here. You don't see any Russian flags anywhere but the hammer and sickle can be found everywhere. The Soviet union was a much more powerful ideological force than Russia if anything.

The Soviet union was a corrupt oppressive hell hole but the more I learn about the cold war the more it seems like the Soviet union at the very least supported a more humane foreign policy than the United States (a very low bar to clear in the cold war) which got them a lot of friends (that they're now losing at a staggering pace)

Edit: and just so no one thinks I'm a Soviet sympathizer because I'm very much not what I mean about the humane foreign policy is that while the USSR definitely had an unethical approach to foreign policy it's hard to beat the United States record of installing a corrupt dictator in the congo, illegally bombing Cambodia and Laos, installing violent dictators in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and pretty much all of Latin America, militarily supporting Pakistan's genocide of Bangladesh, and various other less violent but equally shady things amongst their allies.

The USSR just wasn't quite as busy as the United States, they were more focused on oppressing people back in their Soviet bloc (which included most of eastern Europe at the time)